What’s to defend? Those are awesome in their awfulness. :)
Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He’s been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour. … In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is “Hip to be Square”, a song so catchy, most people probably don’t listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it’s not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it’s also a personal statement about the band itself.
Oh. Shit. You went there.
This thread is having all the wrong effect on me. If I end up downloading a Pet Shop Boys album to my mp3 player, I’m blaming you all!
They didn’t even care back then, did they?
“Here Stan, here’s a guitar. Do air guitar in front of the blue screen for 5 minutes”.
Yes. That’s it. See, I, too, am a cellist, and I have been in (bad) bands. And so this guy’s rant has a special place in my heart forever.
But honestly I think this thread is kind of missing the point of what makes a song “least rockin’.” What makes a song un-rock is taking the standard drums, bass, guitar and vocals and sucking all of the energy and spirit out of it to the point where it’s just notes. The lead singer is just going through the motions (and either chorused or auto-tuned), the guitarist is engaging in masturbatory solos with too much chorus, the drummer’s been replaced by a machine for recording and the bass player’s just hitting eighth notes on the basse fondamentale – and also replaced with a machine for the studio. The sound itself has the vocals and drums getting almost all of the focus with the bass nearly disappearing (or worse, loud without definition), and so much compression there’s no dynamic variance anywhere in the song. The songs themselves take basic tried-and-true forms with words pulled from the most banal clichés known to man, all done by the numbers according to modern market research.
Songs like this are a dime a dozen; we’ve always had 'em and we always will. “We Built This City” stand out from the rest since it came from a band that was legendary and … what’s the word I’m looking for… subversive, and turned it into cookie-cutter copycat pop. But it’s not even the first time that’s happened, nor will it be the last; we just identify it here because it’s our generation and it was just so goddamned successful. But it had at least a little spirit, even if it was the wrong spirit. It’s zombie music.
The Onion AV Club voted for James Taylor’s How Sweet it Is
LINK PLEASE
Google gives me nothing for any combination of the above
[URL=“http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tKx5uT8px8U”]You can use it to sell mouthwash.
Huey Lewis can’t sell mouthwash.
Or maybe this one, you geeks:
I dare you!
It’s about Pac Man.
Thread seems somewhat incomplete without this offering:
[URL=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-NOZU2iPA8”]Jesus Is My Friend by Sonseed
Fools! The obvious answer, the least rockingest song, is:
MUSKRAT LOVE!
Ah, yes. Complete with little squeaky sounds. The 70’s weren’t kind to ANYBODY.
This is pretty much exactly what I had in mind.
Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He’s been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour. … In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is “Hip to be Square”, a song so catchy, most people probably don’t listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it’s not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it’s also a personal statement about the band itself.
And this is why Huey Lewis just might beat out Starship. Starship of course has the dubious honor of having rocked in the past, and then pissing it all away twenty years later.
LINK PLEASE
Google gives me nothing for any combination of the above
Abba and the like get off on a technicality - being the WORST band around does not make them the LEAST ROCKING band around. See BillD, as he summed up the point very succinctly. Well, not succinctly, but violently at least.
Christian Bale would like a word with you.
Great routine, but I can’t believe he left out “Go West” by the Village People.
Safety dance is freaking awesome. Idiots.
I nominate Keep a Rockin Me, for its irony.
Also, the Hanson/Dimmu video is great, if only because the guy posted “I was boring, so I …”
Heh.
Yeah Safety Dance is out of the running because the keyboard riffs are arguably catchy and they lyrics are deliberately tongue in cheek. True rock failures must be sincere and have no redeeming qualities.
And wow, I didn’t realize I’d stumbled into the unoffical Men Without Hats fan club. My humble apologies for mocking the awesomeness of Safety Dance! ;-)